Paintball is a popular competitive game in which players attempt to eliminate other players by hitting them with projectiles filled with paint. The game therefore requires players to move and react very quickly, both to hit other players and to avoid being hit. In order to successfully hit another player, who is usually a fast-moving target, it is advantageous to be able to shoot several projectiles in rapid succession. It is therefore advantageous to have a virtually unlimited supply of paintballs to avoid running out of ammunition during a game.
Paintballs are typically stored in a hopper mounted on the paintball marker, as in the configuration shown in FIG. 1. The disadvantage of this type of hopper is that it has limited capacity. While it is possible to use a larger hopper to increase the number of paintballs available, the size of the hopper can adversely affect the balance and ease of use of the marker, and will provide a larger target for other players to hit.
It is known to provide hoppers mounted in various positions on, or incorporated directly into, various parts of a marker. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,324 to Watson describes a hopper having multiple chambers that is designed to fit over essentially the entire top surface of the marker, creating the appearance of a rifle. Other examples of hopper embodiments are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,426,927 to Broersma, U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,170 to Ho, U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,252 to Stevens, U.S. Pat. No. 7,322,348 to Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,817 to Kulp and U.S. Publication No. 2006/0180134 to Illuzzi.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0053422 to Estrate describes several high capacity reloading magazines, all springing off of a standard egg-shaped hopper. However Estrate's various configurations are even higher-profile than a regular hopper, and therefore present a larger target for opposing players. Further, the magazines are long, bulky and add significant weight to the marker, making it more difficult for the player to move quickly and stealthily.
A second disadvantage of the typical hopper, and of many of the other hopper assemblies referred to above, is that they are generally permanently affixed to the marker, meaning that the only way to reload paintballs once the hopper is empty is to flip open a cap and pour paintballs into the hopper. The steps involved in this operation include removing a paintball storage container from the player's vest or pod harness, opening it opening the cap on the hopper, pouring paintballs from the storage container into the hopper, closing the hopper cap, closing the storage container lid, and re-stowing the storage container back in the player's vest or harness. While each individual step may take only a few seconds, the cumulative time required to accomplish the operation can mean another player has time to target the player reloading his marker, and can be the difference between winning and losing the paintball game. Further, it requires dexterity to pour paintballs from the storage container to the hopper, particularly when the player has been running around the paintball field and likely has a high level of adrenaline in his system. Paintballs are therefore often wasted when they are dropped on the ground during reloading.
There do exist paintball loading mechanisms designed to assist players with reloading their hoppers during game play. U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,983 to Stoneking discloses a paintball storage pod for insertion into a hopper opening, allowing the paintballs to flow directly into the hopper and thus eliminating the problem of pouring (and possibly spilling) paintballs into the opening in the hopper. U.S. Publication No. 2009/0229589 to Karnis discloses a similar system. These designs are intended strictly for refilling the hopper, which leaves a player essentially defenseless while waiting for the paintballs to flow from the storage pod to the hopper.
It is known to use a replaceable hopper magazine rather than a typical refillable hopper, thus minimizing downtime associated with replenishing the marker's paintball supply. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0047535 to Handel discloses a two-piece arrangement comprising a base piece mounted on a marker, which feeds balls into the marker firing chamber, and an upper body pod, which interlocks with the base piece and provides paintballs to the base piece. One drawback to the Handel system is that the hopper pod has an irregular oblong shape that may not be easily portable in a typical player's vest or pod harness, as vests and harnesses typically includes holsters meant to contain uniform elongated, generally cylindrical, objects. Further, it uses a flat two-guide rail mechanism that may not be simple and secure enough for a player in the heat of battle to quickly and confidently lock the pod onto the base piece, leaving the player at the risk of losing a pod during a game. Finally, the system does not include a practical means to reload and reuse an empty pod, for example between paintball games. It is economically preferable for a player or event organizer to be able to collect emptied paintball pods, in order to refill and reuse them. It is also preferable to be able to access the inner areas of a pod, in order to remove debris that may have entered the pod or paint from a paintball that has burst inside the pod, or to fix any internal pieces that require repair.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,270,120 to Broersma et al. also discloses a marker-mounted feeder interlocked with a replaceable magazine. However, this system may not be sufficiently secure, as the magazine simply slides across the top of the marker, relying on a friction-based attachment mechanism to secure the magazine. Further, both the attachment mechanism on the marker and the magazine itself are relatively bulky and heavy-looking. A moving hood appears to be intended to protect the magazine and feed mechanism from adverse game conditions, adding another moving part to the assembly. A more secure means of attaching the magazine and of protecting the magazine/marker connection mechanism without adding bulk or additional moving parts is therefore preferable. Further, Broersma does not appear to contemplate means to refill or repair the magazine.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a paintball loading and feeding assembly that overcomes the foregoing disadvantages.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system in which a paintball magazine can be quickly ejected once it is empty, and easily, quickly and securely replaced with a full magazine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a receiver for a paintball marker that will accept a full paintball magazine and efficiently hold and funnel the paintballs contained in the magazine to the marker.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a receiver for a paintball marker that provide a realistic “firearm” feel when loading maker with a full paintball magazine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a replacement paintball magazine assembly for a paintball marker that can be modified to provide different paintball capacities and feeding configurations to meet the varying needs of different paintball players.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a replacement paintball magazine for a rapid paintball marker loading and feeding system that can be easily accessed for refilling with the magazine with paintballs.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a replacement paintball magazine for a rapid paintball marker loading and feeding system that can be easily assembled and disassembled for maintaining and cleaning the magazine.
These and other objects of the invention will be better understood by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows. Note that not all of the listed objects are necessarily met by each of the embodiments of the invention described below or by the invention as defined by each of the claims.